In May 2017 Sean Reilly was elected chair of OAAA. Reilly, a Baton Rouge native, joined Lamar Advertising Company in 1989, then a family owned business, founded in 1902 by his great-grandfather Charles Lamar Sr. A Harvard University and Harvard Law School graduate, he worked on acquisitions and real estate and has served as chief operating officer. From 1988 to 1996, Reilly served in the Louisiana Legislature as a State Representative from District 68 and since then has served on numerous philanthropic, civic and community boards.

Insider has been told you have a photographic memory, Is this so?

I am flattered that someone would say that, but like us all, my memory occasionally lapses!

I DO, however, tend to remember numbers and deal points pretty well, and we’ve done plenty of deals.

So yeah, at 56 I will forget a thing or two. However, at our company, there are few things we don’t forget: The first is The Golden Rule – Treat others as you would want to be treated. The second is to do our best to make communities in which we operate better.

You said at the 2016 convention that you thought OOH companies would be off the electric grid within 10 years by implementing solar. Can you talk about Lamar’s solar efforts and future of solar for OOH?

I see a future with electric trucks, charging stations at the bottom of billboards, and expanded use of solar power for our boards. Over the past decade, Lamar has made the largest commitment in the industry to solar billboards.

The key ingredient to expand solar is better batteries to store the power generated during the day. The solar power tech is there, and it’s cheap enough to deploy. We need better battery technology, which is coming. Tesla will get us there.

Don’t hold me to that 10-year timeline, but I think we will be there sooner than later.

What areas will you focus on as the new chair of OAAA?

I’m pleased with the five-year OAAA plan to position the industry, produced under the chairmanship of Bill Reagan. One of the main themes is helping the industry to talk about OOH with a unified voice. An extension of that would be to approach the industry in a more standardized way.

That can mean something as simple as a common digital billboard slot model. Currently, some media companies use six, some use eight. It could also mean more precise standards for the many tech applications supporting the industry, such as automated buying platforms.

What are some goals you have for the industry?

The industry is in one the best places it’s ever been … some say this is the golden age of OOH.

Technology continues to broaden our role, and our audience is engaged and growing. We need to take advantage of these opportunities. We must if we are going to meet our aggressive growth goals.

I know we can do this – we have strong creative, data is helping our customers and advancing our measurement, and we complement digital media. There is no reason why we won’t be looking back in 2020 and say ‘We did it! We made OOH a core media buy!’

Anything else you’d like our readers to know?

As OAAA Chairman, one of my goals for the association is to make sure we are relevant to independent media companies. The same goes for our suppliers or vendors. I want to be attentive to their needs and strategies, and ensure conferences and meetings are applicable and beneficial.

Please feel free to reach out to OAAA with your ideas on how we can enhance our efforts to do so.

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